The enchanting entry drive highlights the incredible diversity of Appalachian trees and shrubs coming into the grounds of this property.
Reminiscent of age old drawbridges and moats, this thoroughly modern Highlands home is cast in a wooded setting with many native
plants woven into the enchanting landscape. The home also uses several native building materials including stone and wood, to mention
only a few. The drive leads into the left side of the complex and to the porch and deck with a stunning southwesterly view of multiple
ranges of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Garden 2

This English country home is an inviting drive flanked with native sedges and shrubs. The Pennsylvania sedge groundcover provides a
backdrop of Irish green, and the numerous native shrubs supply an extended bloom season. The motor court plantings follow the idea of
elegant simplicity reminiscent of early American estate designs. Walking through the porte cochere, leads one into the rear motor court
and down into the side and rear gardens. The water feature here is artfully worked into the descending steps. Three gardens, below,
include an open lawn terrace, a fruit and flower garden, and a formal English garden. The southwest views are breathtaking.

Garden 3

Old Highland’s vintage gardens are becoming a rarity these days. Showcasing native and cultivated perennials, this garden starts up front
with a grassy lawn surrounded by flowers. In past times these gardens kept plantings to a minimum around the residence and thus the reason
for the lawn with plantings on the perimeter. Fear of fire a hundred years ago supports this design technique.

Walking to the back leads one to a vast western view of the magical Blue Ridge. The soft beautiful Hemlock hedge below the rear porch is
reminiscent of all older hedges in Highlands --- once upon a time.

Garden 4

This Manor’s gardens remain one of the premier estates on the Highlands Plateau. Like visiting Bouchart or Winterthur gardens, one never
gets enough of this vast and grand estate with the numerous gardens here. Rosemary Verey, famous English garden designer, designed the
gardens for this Manor as well as for the Prince of Wales, Sir Elton John and the New York Botanical Garden. We are fortunate to visit the
gardens of this simply wonderful estate on this year’s tour.

Garden 5

A visit to this log cabin is like coming home. With Alan Singly and Tommy Chambers’ craftsmanship and ingenious creativity, these
hospitable folks have created, a magical Highlands setting. Waterfalls, seeps, boulders and even a tree house nurture the whimsical spirit in
all of us. Although only several decades old, the cabin is built with almost two hundred year old logs. Inside and out, one feels the relaxed
and comfortable atmosphere of hospitality that this Southern family so graciously shares.